‘More still needs to be done’: Sunderland health chief says Covid testing is still lacking

The North East is facing a further series of lockdown restrictions this week following a surge in confirmed cases of COVID-19.

But despite the rising rate of infections, many families in the region are still struggling to access the national screening system, despite some improvements in recent weeks.

“We are getting access to more tests than we have done previously,” said Gillian Gibson, director of public health at Sunderland City Council.

“But I’m not sure that we’re getting access to sufficient access to tests and it’s variable from from day to day, which makes it difficult for people.

“You might speak to someone who got a test no problem at all yesterday, but today you try to book one and you can’t.”

Ms Gibson was speaking at a meeting of Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on Tuesday, September 29.

She added: “We keep hearing about people not being able to access tests locally and issues with how quickly they’re getting their results back.

“It has improved, but more still needs to be done.”

As well as being able to access a test in the first place, concerns have also been raised over the speed of results being returned, with some left waiting days for findings.

New rules came into force in the North East today (Wednesday,September 30) banning households from mixing indoors with anyone they don’t live with, although this will not apply to schools or workplaces.

According to Ms Gibson, Sunderland’s daily infections have ‘increase dramatically’ over the last month, with 90 recorded in a single day last week.

She added: “We’re now starting to see increasing numbers in hospitals and ITUs, we’re seeing outbreaks in care homes and other settings and we’re also starting to see deaths come through again after a number earlier in the year.

“No one in these areas wants to see these restrictions again, but if that is what we need to do to control the virus.”

Dr Ian Pattison, clinical chairman of Sunderland CCG urged the public to ‘follow the advice, stay safe and do what’s necessary’.

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